


Bad Decisions/Good Decisions

by TheIntrovertedM



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: F/M, I love Saeko very much, In any country, There's drinking in this but not underage, What a Meet Cute, rated T for Tanaka Saeko's language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-11
Updated: 2017-03-11
Packaged: 2018-10-02 13:45:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10219598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheIntrovertedM/pseuds/TheIntrovertedM
Summary: Saeko is enjoying a casual drink when she's interrupted by the person she would least expect to see in a bar. Especially drinking what they're drinking.Naturally Saeko stages an intervention





	

**Author's Note:**

> I love AkiSae very much and their tag is woefully underficed (That is a new thing that I just created right now but it's very valid okay)

Tanaka Saeko could hold her liquor. 

At least she could hold it in the moment of drinking it, after a couple of years off testing her limits a little she had learned to anyway. Holding it after sleep was a different story, Saeko couldn’t quite handle thudding headaches behind her eyes quite as well.   
Nonetheless, Tanaka Saeko maintained that she could hold her liquor.

Hence why she was currently sat on a red vinyl bar stool at around 10pm. But she also had things to do tomorrow so her drink was a single malt whiskey she had been nursing for a while. 

Saeko took a sip and swung her black combat boots, lightly tapping the wooden underside of the bar. She was a glass half full type of person but even she couldn’t say her glass was anywhere near full currently. Another sip and Saeko contemplated ordering another whiskey, the idea had merits but she couldn’t really be bothered staying out any longer. She wondered when she became such an old woman.

Saeko blew a strand of blonde out of her face, just as someone burst in and flung themselves onto the stool next to her. Hunched back and grungy clothing, Saeko knew the signs of unhappiness, recognising them in the person next to her coupled with the classic ‘drown your sorrows’ trope piqued her interest. 

Said person didn’t really look like the type for casual drinking, or drinking at all if she was honest. Saeko’s suspicions were confirmed when a shot glass of amber liquid is slid in the man’s direction. A Drambuie, not her first choice for a shot, or her second. Maybe fifth, Saeko muses, stealing another sip of her whiskey as she watches the show beside her.

The man grabs it, stoic faced in a way that looks a little forced, and knocks it back. Saeko admires the follow through, no hesitation at all. However he coughs a little, giving a sharp exhale whilst scrunching his nose slightly. Saeko smiles into her glass, _definitely_ not a drinker.

To her surprise though, he orders another shot. Saeko quirks an eyebrow at this, wondering what on earth is so bad for this person to drink such a strong shot to wash it away. The second time is clearly worse, the shot is taken after a lengthy pause, and the fallout is terrible. He outright chokes this time, and Saeko can see his eyes water a little. There’s a full on nose scrunch going on and sharp uneven exhaling.

Saeko realised it was time to intervene when the third shot appeared. She grabbed the shot from right in front of the man and downed it herself. It burned down her throat but not so much that she didn’t expect it. The man turned to her with widened eyes, Saeko gave a devilish grin.

“Look, I understand the need to drown your sorrows as much as the next guy but a third Drambuie really isn’t necessary after you almost weep at the first two.” As good a conversation starter than any, she thought.  
“W-what?!” The man sputters, looking at Saeko ten times more bewildered than before.   
“I can see it, the hunched shoulders give it away really. You’re not a drinker but you figure the occasion calls for it. I’m gonna tell you right now to stop. Drambuies are not your friend, the nose scrunch tells me as much.” Saeko isn’t one to beat around the bush, and this isn’t the situation for it anyway.

The man doesn’t say anything then, instead glances his eyes over Saeko. Not in a leering way, more of an once over analysing shot. She doesn’t mind, Saeko knows she’s dressed to kill. Black combats, dark blue jeans with authentic rips at the knees (authentic because they came about on her first few test drives of her motorbike), scarlet singlet with a low v and a very nice black leather jacket with just the right amount of studs. The appraisal finishes and she realises with a start that she know this man. 

“You’re Tsukishima Akiteru, the blonde one's brother! What’s his name? Kei that’s it!” Saeko rushes out, leaning forward to get a better look at Akiteru, waving her arms and clicking the fingers of her right hand as well.  
“I knew I recognised you from somewhere, what the hell are you doing in a bar drinking shots?!”   
Akiteru blinks at her, overwhelmed. Saeko is an expressive person, she remembers nearly taking someone’s eye out with a lollipop once. She leans back, giving the boy space to breathe, awaiting an answer. 

“ .. You must be Tanaka Saeko, the bald one’s sister. The resemblance is strong I see.” Akiteru mutters somewhat cautiously, Saeko grins.  
“The one and only. The brother is called Ryuunosuke, for your information. I’ll take that last part as a compliment.”  
Akiteru is quiet after that and Saeko really isn’t one for patiently waiting _and_ she does have things to do tomorrow.  
“Just tell me why you’re here and I swear on anything you like that talking to me about it will be so so much better than those shots, not that that looks particularly hard.” 

Akiteru gives her an incredulous look.   
“How do you know all this? I drink, I’m not drowning any sorrows. You have it all wrong, this is completely casual.”  
Saeko eyes the sweatpants and hoodie, and raises an cool eyebrow.  
“Oh really. Completely casual is it. Because this just screams casual.” She gestures to him, waving a hand up and down Akiteru’s general person.

There’s silence and Akiteru is very carefully avoiding her gaze, Saeko taps her left hand against the countertop.  
“ .. Fine, you got me,” Saeko rolls her eyes, “this isn’t completely casual.”  
“Well, no shit captain obvious. You still haven’t answered my question you know, that would be appreciated. Sometime soon preferably.”  
“What makes you think I’d tell you, I barely know you.”  
“Exactly, you’ll probably never see me again. You’ve already drowned your sorrows, why not spill to a stranger?” Saeko smirks, a glint in her eyes. 

Akiteru sighs and rolls his eyes, and Saeko’s smirk widens just a little bit more at that. 

“If you insist,” Akiteru reluctantly concedes, “I guess I can talk.”  
“You bet your sweet ass I insist. But make it quick, I’ve got work tomorrow.” Saeko laughs under her breath at the faint redness she can see on Akiteru’s cheeks when she speaks. Swinging herself around on her stool to face him, Saeko rests her chin on her hand and levels her gaze at Akiteru.

“So.” Akiteru’s gaze is flitting around everywhere that isn’t Saeko’s face. She sighs and pulls back on her chair, gotta give people space she thinks.  
“So.”  
“I work in this office, as a sort of paid intern I guess.” Saeko leans forward just a centimetre, stealing a sip of her dwindling whiskey.  
“Yes, and?”

Akiteru shifts a little on his seat, his hands fiddling with themselves. Saeko sighs and waves the bartender over.  
“Can I get a sparkling water and lemon?”  
The bartender raises an eyebrow but silently slides the drink over. Akiteru gives Saeko a grateful glance before cupping his hands around the cool glass and staring into it’s refreshing depths.

“So, the receptionist, she’s-”  
Saeko snorts, stopping Akiteru in his tracks. Honestly, she almost can’t believe this boy. The receptionist, of course.  
“Sorry, sorry. Carry on.” Saeko calms herself down before giving a half bow to Akiteru.  
“Uh, right, the receptionist”, Akiteru sounds very unsure of himself now and Saeko hopes she hasn’t put him off so much he stops talking altogether. 

“So she’s, uh, beautiful-”  
“Oh, I bet.”  
“-And really nice and smart-”  
“Naturally.  
”-And I guess I’ve had a massive crush on her-”  
“As expected.”  
“-Ever since I started really.”  
“I don’t doubt it.”  
Akiteru manages to stumble his was through an entire sentence, or maybe it’s two she muses, every pause he takes to have a sip of his sparkling water punctuated by Saeko’s running commentary. 

“Right, so we have a perfect, and probably robotic, receptionist that you very expectedly have a crush on. So far, apart from this being a little pathetic and a lot cliched, I don’t see the need to drown in Drambuies yet.” Saeko takes a sip of her whiskey, awaiting a response to her ‘Akiteru’s problem’ progress assessment.  
Akiteru rolls his eyes, almost too quickly for her to catch and shrugs. “I’m getting there.” He says in between sips.   
“Mmmm, sure. Continue then.”

“We talk a bit when I first come in each day and at break and everything.”  
“Well I’m glad you weren’t just admiring her from afar.  
“And, today I finally worked up the courage to ask her out-”  
Saeko raises an eyebrow. “Exactly how long have you been working there?”  
Akiteru shrugs, gulping down more water. “Around 5 months.”  
Saeko coughs a little on her whiskey.

“-Anyway I was going to ask her out this morning, nothing big, just coffee or something-”  
“Small steps I see.”  
“And I said she looked really happy today”  
“I highly doubt you used those exact words.”  
“I didn’t, I said she looked even more beautiful than usual.”  
“Oh, _smooth_.”  
Akiteru grimaces a bit, “apparently not because she told me she was really happy because she was celebrating her 4 month anniversary.”

Saeko placed her glass down and gently put a hand on Akiteru’s arm.  
“Well, that sucks.” She rubbed her thumb slightly against his arm. “That really sucks. I see the need for a shot or two now.”  
Akiteru gives another non committal shrug. “That’s not all of it, if it had just been that I probably would’ve just gone home and moped for a bit.”  
Saeko inclined her head, “The floor is yours.”

“Well, I’d just been unknowingly rejected, and that sucked but I was okay.”  
“I doubt that your definition of okay here matches mine.”  
“I thought I could make it through the day and then go home and mope-”  
“Not the happiest thing but I can’t really fault you there.”  
“-But when I got to my desk it turned out they were firing me.”  
“Oh Akiteru. Fuck, I’m so sorry.”

Saeko leans in close to Akiteru, frowning and placing her free other hand on his thigh.   
“That really really sucks Akiteru. I’d have a drambuie or two if it had happened to me too.”   
Akiteru shrugs, eyes drawn towards the thumb stroking his thigh comfortingly.  
“They said they were “letting me off” and it was nothing personal. I got a reference out of it all as well. But it was just the icing on the ‘terrible, no good, very bad day’ cake.”  
“I see that. What a shit day you’ve had.” Saeko commiserates.

She pulls back a little, downing the second to last bit of her whiskey, thinking.   
“You know, I think there’s a job opening at the eatery.” Saeko comments, looking at Akiteru pointedly.  
“What kind of job?” Akiteru mumbles after a short pause.  
“Book balancing.”  
“What kind of dodgy business are you doing?”  
“None! We just don’t keep records well, or almost at all.” Saeko defends, snapping forward in her indignance, “All you have to do is sit at the computer and keep records, make sure everything checks out.” 

Akiteru looks briefly hopeful for all of about 10 seconds before his faces crumples inward again.  
“Who’s to say I’ll even get it. They’ll probably want someone older or-”  
“I’m to say you’ll get it! I can guarantee it! I’ll go see Akiyama-san tomorrow and tell him that Tsukishima Akiteru is starting tomorrow and he’s gonna balance the books.” Saeko is mere inches from Akiteru, her eyes bright and sharp, close enough to smell a faint cologne and see the exact shade of molten gold his eyes are. 

Akiteru inhales sharply then deflates, letting out a tired sigh.  
“Okay, okay. I have a new job, I get it. You can, uh, move back now.” Akiteru shifts uncomfortably on his seat and Saeko grins, pulling back a few inches.   
“And as for the receptionist problem, it really sucks but unfortunately I cannot just pull another receptionist out of my hat.” Saeko shrugs, sympathy edging her words, “But I’m sure you’ll find someone new when you’re ready.”  
Akiteru’s gaze flits from his drink to the rows of bottles behind the bar then to the bartender at the other end of the bar, everywhere but Saeko.   
“I suppose I will.” 

The conversation lulls, the sounds of the bar shifting from background noise to the main focus. Saeko hums for a moment, considering, before downing the last of her whiskey and slamming her glass down.   
The bartender glances her way, eyebrow raised in an obvious question. Saeko dismisses them with a razor sharp grin and a wave of her hand, she won’t be drinking anything more tonight.

Saeko leans forward once more, eyes bright and glinting in the low bar light.   
“So Akiteru, tell me, is that brother of yours always so cold, or is it selectively employed?”  
Akiteru chokes on his water, but he’s smiling, not nearly as much as Saeko is but it’s enough.  
“Oh, you noticed that. Well that’s sort of my fault really”  
“Is it now? Do tell.”  
“Well…”

\----

The night air is cool, the town eerily quiet after the bar, although the bar wasn’t all that loud anyway. Miyagi isn’t exactly known for a raging night life, and that particular establishment is more frequented by an older, or at the very least more mature, crowd.   
Akiteru leans against the brick wall, about a metre from the door. He looks positively cozy, and although her leather jacket is perfect in every other way, it’s not exactly the warmest thing Saeko could be wearing right now. Which means she best be on her way, off home to where it is warm, where she can sleep and do the things she has to do tomorrow. 

She’s just about to mount her bike when Akiteru speaks up. Saeko had thought they were going to leave it here, make true on her earlier comment about never seeing each other again. She can’t say she’s not a little happy that they might not. She turns back and walks toward him as he speaks, pausing just in front of Akiteru. 

“Thank you. Thank you for seeing that I was out of my depth, and rescuing me I guess. .. And you were right, I suppose. Talking to you _was_ better than the Drambuies.” Akiteru concedes, not looking at Saeko directly, but she doesn’t miss the little eye roll that accompanies the last part. 

Saeko smiles. Not grins, not smirks, but smiles. She pushes herself up onto her tiptoes and presses a small chaste kiss to Akiteru’s lips. Saeko lingers two seconds too long for the kiss to be just a thank you. Her smile widens as she pulls away, returning to her bike.

Saeko chuckles at the light sheen, just visible in the moonlight, left by her cherry lip gloss on Akiteru’s lips. She leans back against her bike and regards the boy in front of her. 

“You did make a pretty good decision talking to me tonight.” Saeko slings a leg over her motorbike. “Made my night a lot more interesting too.” She continues, eyes on Akiteru who is still in the exact same position as when she kissed him, gunning the engine and grabbing her helmet.

“Who knows, maybe you’ll make some even better decisions in the future.” And at that Saeko grins one last time, throwing a wink over her shoulder, slips on her helmet and motorcycles off into the distance. 

Akiteru is left standing, staring in the direction she went for about 5 minutes, before he remembers the he should probably be heading home. 

\----

“Hey, Kei?”  
“ .. Yes.”  
“Do you think you could ask that Tanaka boy for his sister’s number?”  
“No.”

**Author's Note:**

> As always comments/criticism and kudos are always appreciated. I have a KenHina and two other fics for different fandoms coming out in the next couple of months so keep an eye out for those if you want. Thank you for reading.


End file.
